Chapter Summaries

Tina and Gray brought Daemon-Slaying Incendiaries to Star Sea I World to test whether the new ammunition could kill Genestealers and counter their psychic powers. They split into search teams to find a Genestealer in the underground pipelines, leaving the weapon test pending.

• Tina told Gray that she planned to test the Lord of the Stars' Daemon-Slaying Incendiaries on a Genestealer and asked for Space Marine support.
• Gray decided to lead the expedition himself and traveled with Tina and twenty Space Marines to the underground settlement.
• Gray greeted John and asked him to report any signs of the Genestealer, then joined Tina to search for its hiding place.
• Gray ordered Wright to divide the guards into search teams and told them not to kill the Genestealer before the experiment.
• Tina and Gray began searching the underground pipelines while Art Student considered a device to detect psykers across a planet.

The Defense Force and its robots wiped out a settlement of hundreds of thousands of Genestealers, while Dinar survived in hiding. Wright and his teammates later captured the elusive psychic Genestealer, and Gray and Tina arrived after being summoned.

• The Defense Force and its robots slaughtered the Genestealers in the settlement and burned their bodies under the commanding officer's orders.
• Dinar watched his kin die and chose to remain hidden rather than lead a futile counterattack.
• Wright and his teammates searched the tunnels for the elusive Genestealer, which suddenly tried to ambush them with Psychic Lightning.
• A Space Marine's Psychic Null Field stopped the Genestealer's powers, and he cut off its claws with his Power Sword.
• Wright set up a Teleport Beacon and called Gray and Tina, who arrived with the other Space Marines.

Gray and Tina tested the Lord of the Stars’ Daemon-Slaying Incendiary on a captured Genestealer, and the round burned it to ash despite its psychic barrier. With the patriarch dead, the hybrid Genestealers fell into chaos, allowing the Defense Force to clear them from the underground pipelines of Star Sea I World.

• Gray and the Space Marines restrained the Genestealer after it ambushed them and lost its psychic powers and claws inside the anti-psychic field.
• Tina tested ordinary ammunition against the Genestealer, then fired a Daemon-Slaying Incendiary that pierced its barrier and incinerated it.
• Tina sent the test footage to Art Student for the Lord of the Stars, while Gray and the others praised the weapon.
• Gray and Tina left by teleportation to resume training recruits, and the Defense Force continued clearing the remaining hybrid Genestealers.
• After the patriarch died, the hybrids lost their psychic concealment, recognized their monstrous forms, and slaughtered one another.
• The Defense Force wiped out the remaining Genestealers in the underground pipelines in less than half a day, clearing the threat from Star Sea I World.

The Art Student reviewed his subordinates’ technology proposals and assessed a Daemon-Slaying Incendiary test. He ordered mass production using cloned versions of himself, then returned to his research, having abandoned efforts to build a psychic detector.

• The Art Student reviewed suggestions from his people, including improved plasma weapons and aerospace fighter equipment.
• Gaia showed the Art Student Tina’s test video, in which a Daemon-Slaying Incendiary killed a Genestealer.
• The Art Student judged the ammunition effective against most psykers and ordered Gaia to mass-produce it by cloning hundreds of thousands of copies of his body.
• The Art Student ordered regular incendiaries added to production and distributed widely alongside ordinary ammunition.
• The Art Student returned to his laboratory to work on the Planetary Gravity Engine after giving up on a psychic detector that could not detect suppressed psykers.

The Art Student completed the Planetary Gravity Engine, a device designed to restore a dead planet’s magnetic field and gravity, and added a Power Field so it could penetrate a planet’s crust. He took the Lord of the Stars Flagship to a dead planet to test it, while Gray arrived on the bridge to observe.

• The Art Student designed the Planetary Gravity Engine to restart dead planetary cores and make low-gravity planets habitable, while retaining the ability to destroy planets under restricted authorization.
• After simulations showed the Adamantium casing would deform on impact, the Art Student installed a Power Field at the engine’s front to carry it into a planetary core.
• The Art Student told Gaia to save the production data but wait to begin large-scale production until after testing the engine.
• The Art Student ordered Gaia to take the Lord of the Stars Flagship to the largest dead planet in the Star Sea Galaxy for a test.
• Gray noticed the flagship moving, went to the bridge, and joined the Art Student to watch the test.

The Art Student tested the Planetary Gravity Engine on a dead planet, restoring its gravity enough for humans with oxygen equipment to survive there. He then showed Gray footage of the device destroying several planets, leaving Gray stunned by its power.

• The Art Student ordered Gaia to calculate the force needed to fire the Planetary Gravity Engine into the dead planet without damaging it.
• Gaia launched the engine into the planet’s core, where it emitted gravitational magnetic fields and used local materials to sustain its power.
• The Art Student sent two robots to collect data, and their tests showed that the planet’s gravity could support human survival, though it still lacked an atmosphere and protection from gamma rays.
• The Art Student said the planet could become habitable through further transformation and told Gray the engine could also destroy planets.
• The Art Student showed Gray footage of an engine smashing three planets before breaking down, and Gray reacted in shock.

Art Student explained the Planetary Gravity Engine’s capabilities and limitations, and Gaia began mass-producing it and other weapons. As the Star Sea Galaxy’s population and military expanded, Anrida struggled to staff the Defense Force while keeping order in the old districts.

• Art Student told Gray that the Planetary Gravity Engine could destroy planets or help make dead planets habitable, but Void Shields could divert it into the Warp.
• Gray sent the engine’s test data to Anglie, Hogood, Anrida, and Mendeleev, who reacted to its military potential and the added burden of transforming more planets.
• After Art Student gave permission, Gaia began mass-producing Planetary Gravity Engines and other weapons.
• The Defense Force grew from just over five hundred thousand members to more than ten million as recruits continued to sign up.
• Anrida worried that pulling veterans back to train recruits would leave too few troops to guard the old districts and contain troublemakers.

Anrida called for a Star Conference after the recruit count surpassed ten million, requiring more instructors and a planet for training. He gathered his company commanders and arrived at the conference room, where Tina joined him as the meeting’s other attendees were still on their way.

• Anrida told Gray and Mendeleev that more than ten million recruits needed veteran instructors and larger training grounds, and both agreed to provide veterans and hold a Star Conference.
• Anrida contacted Anglie and Hogood, who also agreed to the conference.
• Anrida summoned the ten company commanders under his command and brought them from World Two to the Lord of the Stars Flagship.
• Anrida took his seat in the conference room and told the company commanders to sit behind him.
• Tina arrived, exchanged greetings with Anrida and the company commanders, and sat in the fourth seat on the left.

Anrida and Gray asked the civilian ministers to find a planet and manpower for training ten million recruits, but Anglie and Hogood resisted because Worlds One and Two were still under construction. Mendeleev offered them captured Imperium frigates and destroyers in exchange for helping build training grounds, and the meeting ended with an agreement to build Tri-Service Training Grounds in every star system.

• Mendeleev entered with Tulas and four cruiser captains, and Lilith greeted her father Gray before the officials took their seats.
• Anrida asked Anglie and Hogood to find a planet and manpower for a recruit training facility, explaining that ten million recruits could not be trained aboard warships.
• Anglie and Hogood said construction in Worlds One and Two left them unable to spare workers, so Gray and Anrida turned to Mendeleev for a solution.
• Mendeleev offered Anglie and Hogood any captured Imperium frigates and destroyers for their departments.
• Anglie requested cruisers as well and promised that every star system would receive Tri-Service Training Grounds first; Gray and the other military leaders agreed, and Anglie and Hogood accepted.

The officials settled arrangements for public security, military recruitment, and specialized academies, then adjourned the conference. After returning to World One, Anglie sent Construction Department designers to search the Star Sea Galaxy for planets that could be converted into military training grounds.

• Hogood asked Anrida for Defense Force personnel to form a public security brigade, but Anrida said the force had no staff to spare and suggested robots and former public security officers instead.
• Hogood questioned whether the Defense Force could manage the new recruits, and Anrida explained that personnel from the Space Marines and navy would temporarily help.
• Nelson asked why the military was not establishing academies, and Mendeleev said the commanders lacked the experience and instructors needed to train recruits professionally.
• Several departments agreed they could establish academies to train specialized reserve personnel, while the logistics department agreed to help build military training grounds.
• Anrida adjourned the meeting, and Anglie later assigned Construction Department designers to survey the Star Sea Galaxy for suitable planets to convert into training grounds.

After reshaping the Star Sea Galaxy, Anglie developed new habitable worlds while Anrida expanded military recruitment and training. Art Student created a realistic piloting game to identify people capable of operating mechs and aircraft, leaving Gray and Anrida to recruit those who proved themselves.

• Robots and facilities produced warships, weapons, and equipment as Worlds One and Two were rebuilt and their remaining population was counted at 101.3 billion.
• Anglie developed Planets Three, Four, and Five with gravity engines, frozen water, and fast-growing forests so they could eventually house people.
• Anrida moved recruit training to a fortified dwarf planet and began training more than twenty million new soldiers, knowing Gray and Mendeleev wanted to recruit them afterward.
• Art Student created the simulated piloting game Ace Pilot, where players could test themselves with increasingly realistic mech and aircraft simulations.
• Gaia sent the information of players who reached one hundred percent realism to Gray and Anrida so they could recruit proven pilots.

Five years of development transformed the Star Sea Galaxy, while its military grew and reorganized. Art Student approved new commanders and promotions, then ordered genetic enhancement for Gray, Mo Tuo, Anrida, and the officers they selected.

• Over five years, Star Sea developed its other planets, made World Three a popular tourist destination, and recruited many game-trained mech and fighter pilots into the military.
• Gray reported that the Space Marines numbered more than fifteen thousand five hundred and recommended Mo Tuo as captain of Second Company.
• Art Student approved Mo Tuo's appointment, promoted Gray to Chapter Master, and kept all Space Marines under Gray's command.
• Anrida reported that the Defense Force exceeded eighteen million and proposed two army groups, with York commanding the second; Art Student approved the plan.
• Mendeleev reported that the navy had selected new cruiser commanders, and Art Student praised all three leaders.
• Art Student ordered Gray, Mo Tuo, Anrida, and the selected military officers to receive genetic enhancement aboard his personal ship.

Art Student limited personalized genetic enhancement to reward exceptional subordinates, while the Imperium spent seven years assembling a crusade in the Provence System against the Star Sea Galaxy heretics. The chapter leaves the crusading forces and their warships gathered, ready to attack.

• Art Student decided to reserve genetic enhancements for a small number of subordinates with outstanding merits or rank.
• Art Student ordered Vanessa to take Gray and the others' subordinates to the genetic enhancement chamber.
• The Provence Sector bishop sought Terra's support after receiving Bishop Zakli's report about the heretics in the Star Sea Galaxy.
• Imperial forces delayed their response because the enemy had more than a thousand Space Marines in Terminator Armour and Astartes Chapters took time to arrive.
• The Imperium assembled more than three million elite Astra Militarum soldiers, over three thousand Space Marines from four Chapters, and over ten million Emperor-worshipping fanatics.
• The Navy and four Space Marine Chapters gathered more than fifty warships in the Provence System for the crusade.

Dominus Archimonde arrived in the Provence System with an Adeptus Mechanicus fleet to support Kratos’s crusade against the heretics. He provided Terminator Armour and Centurion Warsuits for the Astartes Chapters, then joined the Navy fleet as it departed for the Star Sea Galaxy.

• Kratos contacted Dominus Archimonde after his Adeptus Mechanicus fleet emerged from the Mandeville Point.
• Archimonde explained that the Fabricator-General had sent him to punish the heretics who violated the Crimson Protocol and seize their valuable technology.
• Kratos welcomed Archimonde’s support and agreed to depart with his fleet without arranging meetings with Provence’s officials.
• Archimonde revealed that he had brought twenty suits of Indomitus-pattern Terminator Armour and fifty Centurion Warsuits for the Astartes Chapters.
• The Navy and Adeptus Mechanicus fleets joined together and entered the Warp, bound for the Star Sea Galaxy.

The Star Sea Galaxy expanded its military and civilian institutions as its fleet and forces grew stronger. The Art Student judged that they could now face the Imperium, but waited for more cruisers and battleships before authorizing a new offensive.

• The navy received its completed frigates and destroyers, bringing its fleet to one battleship, four cruisers, forty frigates, and seventy destroyers.
• The Defense Force opened a second recruitment drive, enrolling tens of millions while limiting applicants to those under thirty to preserve workers for the galaxy’s development.
• More than thirty thousand new Space Marine recruits began training, while the first batch completed physical training and continued team combat exercises.
• Anrida and Mendeleev established military academies on Planet Five to educate officers and cultivate talent for the expanding armed forces.
• The Art Student reviewed the Star Sea Galaxy’s development data and decided to wait for the remaining cruisers and battleships before ordering an advance into nearby galaxies.

Lilith’s patrol fleet detected an Imperial invasion force emerging from Mandeville Point and immediately attacked. The Imperial Navy, caught under fire, raised its Void Shields and began counterattacking as an Astartes Chapter Master ordered his battle barge closer.

• Lilith reprimanded a destroyer captain for dismissing his patrol duty and ordered the fleet to continue watching Mandeville Point.
• An alarm reported an invasion, and Lilith identified more than thirty Imperial Navy, Astartes Chapter, and Adeptus Mechanicus warships emerging from the Warp.
• Lilith ordered her fleet to attack, and its lances, macrocannons, and plasma cannons opened fire on the newcomers.
• Kratos ordered the Imperial ships to activate their Void Shields and counterattack Lilith’s fleet.
• An Astartes Chapter Master ordered his battle barge to move in close.

Lilith’s fleet held off the Imperial Navy at the Mandeville Point, keeping the enemy at range despite being outnumbered. Mendeleev led reinforcements toward the battle and ordered Lilith to draw the invasion fleet deeper into the star system so they could try to destroy it entirely.

• Lilith ordered the Invincible War God and the other warships to focus their fire on the approaching battle barge and the rest of the Imperial Navy fleet.
• The Astartes Chapter Master urged the battle barge to close in, but its captain could not push through Lilith’s fleet’s firepower and withdrew to protect the ship’s Void Shields.
• More than sixty Imperial vessels emerged from the Warp, increasing the pressure on Lilith’s thirteen warships, while Lilith kept the enemy at a distance to prevent boarding actions and close combat.
• Mendeleev received word that foreign forces had invaded the Star Sea Galaxy and assembled a fleet of 102 warships to reinforce Lilith.
• Mendeleev told Lilith to lure the Imperial fleet deeper into the star system, and Lilith acknowledged his order.

Anrida sent the First Aerospace Fighter Company to support the navy as Mendeleev's fleet ambushed the Imperial Navy and shattered its formation. With the Imperial forces outnumbered and taking heavy losses, the Astartes Chapter Masters proposed a boarding operation to Kratos.

• Anrida ordered the First Aerospace Fighter Company to deploy while the Second and Third Companies remained on standby.
• After Lilith's fleet and the Imperial Navy withdrew from the Mandeville Point, Mendeleev's fleet arrived and attacked from several directions.
• The Star Navy's assault broke the Imperial Navy's battle line and destroyed two Cobra-class Destroyers.
• Kratos learned from Archimonde the Dominus that the enemy's strength exceeded expectations and that the Imperium had no answer but to fight.
• The four Astartes Chapter Masters told Kratos they were preparing a boarding operation and needed the navy's assistance.

Kratos accepted the Emperor's Angels' plan to board the Star Navy fleet, while Mendeleev ordered his ships to keep the Imperial Navy at a distance and batter it with fire. The Imperial Navy's advance stalled despite a destroyer's sacrifice, and Kratos held onto hope that the Astartes and the Martian Mechanicum could still turn the battle.

• Kratos agreed to support the Emperor's Angels' boarding operation and ordered the fleet to continue advancing.
• Mendeleev rejected Mo Tuo's offer to counter-board and ordered the Star Navy ships to attack the Imperial Navy fleet.
• The Star Navy fleet destroyed ten Imperial Navy frigates and destroyers in under ten minutes and heavily damaged more than a dozen others.
• A damaged Cobra-class destroyer charged the Star Navy fleet and exploded, briefly allowing the Imperial Navy to advance several hundred kilometers.
• Kratos struck his despairing adjutant and insisted that the Astartes and Archimonde, the ruling Sage, could still give them hope.

Kratos asked Archimonde to use his unknown secret weapons to help the Astartes reach the enemy fleet, and Archimonde launched three mysterious missiles at the Star Navy Fleet. The missiles withstood lance fire and accelerated toward the fleet as Mendeleev ordered the Planetary Gravity Engine to attack them.

• Kratos contacted Archimonde, who agreed to use three secret weapons despite not knowing what they did.
• Archimonde's priests charged the mysterious black missiles while Imperial ships and a Sword-class Frigate were destroyed in the battle.
• Archimonde launched the three missiles toward the Star Navy Fleet's battleship, the Radiance of the Stars.
• Mendeleev ordered the fleet to retreat and fire its lances at the missiles, but the strikes failed and made the missiles fly faster.
• Gray suggested using the Planetary Gravity Engine, and Mendeleev ordered it to fire a projectile at the incoming missiles.